Pelham Grenville Wodehouse Vol 2: "This is jolly old Fame"

Despite Wodehouse's antipathy towards critics, Kent's first volume demonstrates just how much the thick-skinned of us have to explore in his work. The term sweetness and light has notable literary origins in distinctly literary works, stemming from dulce et utile (literally sweet and useful ) from Horace's Ars Poetica, by way of Jonathan Swift and Matthew Arnold. The words symbolize not just a Victorian gentility but a classless curiosity, and love for fellow man. Wodehouse s work should perhaps be seen in this vein, useful tonic to the darkness in the world, and more poetry than plot. It is therefore excellent news that we await two more volumes of Paul Kent's work that can help us to unpick that poetry and try to better understand the source of that sunlit perfection .

--Eliza Easton In the Times Literary Supplement (TLS)
 
 
“Whether you’re an absolute beginner or an aficionado, Paul Kent has captured the essence of what made Wodehouse tick without spoiling all the fun; and makes a compelling case for why we owe it to our collective sanity to keep on reading him.” (Wooster Sauce)
 
P.G. Wodehouse
1881-1975
Humourist
Novelist
Lyricist
Playwright
 
So reads the simple inscription on the memorial stone unveiled in London’s Westminster Abbey in September 2019, honouring the greatest comic writer of the 20th century. It takes a steady hand and a steely nerve to insist that sweetness and light can prevail in a world that seems hell-bent on proving the opposite, and over 40 years after his death, Wodehouse is not just surviving but thriving all over the world. Young Indian professionals can’t get enough of him; he’s hugely popular in Japan; his books have been translated into more than 30 languages, from Azerbaijani to Ukrainian via Hebrew, Italian, Swedish  and Chinese; and there are established Wodehouse societies in the UK, the USA, Belgium, Holland and Russia. His books are demonstrating the staying power of true classics, and are all currently in print, making him as relevant — and funny — as he ever was.